First Kashmir expedition
Rain, hunger and cholera wrecked the first attempt on Kashmir. It took another five years to return.
In 1814 Ranjit Singh sent an army into Kashmir, then ruled by the Afghan governor Azim Khan. One column, under Ram Dayal, grandson of Mokham Chand, pushed into the valley by the Pir Panjal pass; the Maharaja himself led another.
The monsoon came early. Rain, hunger and cholera, and the hill rajas' treachery over supplies, wrecked the expedition. Ram Dayal's force, cut off in the valley, had to negotiate its way out, and the Maharaja's column retreated with heavy losses. Mokham Chand, who had stayed behind ill, died that year.
It took another five years, and a new route through Rajauri, before Kashmir fell to the Sikhs in 1819.
Same era
Campaigns of the Kingdom of Lahore, 1799 – 1842
After a month of mining and assault, the Pathan principality of Kasur fell.
The Sikh Empire's first major victory over the Afghans, securing the fort at the Indus crossing.
After several earlier attempts, a large Sikh army breached the walls with the great Zamzama gun and Akali charges. The Nawab died with his sons.
Brought the Kashmir valley under Sikh rule after five centuries of Muslim rule.
A hard battle on the Kabul river that opened the Peshawar valley. The Nihang leader Akali Phula Singh fell leading the charge.
Syed Ahmad Barelvi's jihad movement against Sikh rule in the frontier hills ended when his force was caught at Balakot.
Sikh forces marched into Peshawar and ended its status as a tributary. Dost Mohammad Khan's attempts to retake it led to Jamrud.
The Afghans attacked the new fort at the mouth of the Khyber. Nalwa was mortally wounded; his death was kept secret until relief arrived and the Afghans withdrew.